Britain celebrated a sensational day of Olympic victories on Saturday, winning
six gold medals — three in just 43 minutes.

In a dramatic night that electrified the crowd in the Olympic stadium, Jessica Ennis won the heptathlon by smashing the opposition in the 800 metres, then 20 minutes later Greg Rutherford won the long jump. As the crowd celebrated Mo Farah took gold in the 10,000m. It was the greatest day in British Olympic history since 1908, with the three athletics gold medals coming after two golds in rowing and one in cycling, as well as two world records.

But it was the unforgettable minutes when the three athletics golds were won that will define the day.

It was, said Lord Coe, “the greatest night of British athletics”.

The athletics drama began when Ennis, the British team’s poster girl took the fourth medal of “Super Saturday” with a commanding performance in the 800m and three personal bests in the event.

As she celebrated her victory with tears in her eyes, Rutherford was being cheered on by the crowd to victory in the long jump, which he won with a leap of 8.31m.

Then, as the crowd celebrated his victory, Farah began the 10,000m — and at 9.45pm, he sprinted to win gold.

In the stadium the noise was deafening, and 80,000 people were on their feet cheering, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. David Cameron hugged Boris Johnson, the London mayor, and Farah grabbed a Union flag to begin his lap of honour.

The commanding performances came on a day when:

Þ British rowing had its best ever Olympics, with gold in the men’s coxless four, gold in the lightweight women’s double sculls and silver in the lightweight men’s double sculls taking the medal total in the water to nine;

Þ The women’s cycling pursuit team stormed their way to gold in a world record time – breaking the record they had set only an hour and a half earlier in the semi-final;

Þ Andy Murray and Laura Robson went through to the final of the tennis mixed doubles, meaning Murray will play in two finals at Wimbledon on Sunday as he is also in the men’s singles final;

Þ A record 200,000 people watched events in the Olympic Park, and hundreds of thousands more packed central London to watch the women’s triathlon and the men’s 20km walking race;

Þ History was made in the Olympic stadium as South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius, who runs on “blades”, qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 400m.

On Saturday night Britain was third in the medals table, with 29 medals – including 14 golds – putting the team behind only the United States and China. Ennis’s victory was greeted by ecstatic applause and cheers. She had beaten her personal best in three out of the seven events, finishing with 6,955 points, 327 ahead of second-placed Tatanya Cheranova, her Russian rival.

She cried first when she had won, then again as Lord Coe presented her with the gold medal.

“I can’t believe that I’ve had the opportunity to come to my first Games in London and win an Olympic medal,” she said.

“To come into this event with all that pressure and everyone saying you’re going to win gold and I know how hard it has been to win it and I can’t believe I’ve done it.

Rutherford was almost a bonus for the crowd, who roared on the 25 year-old from Milton Keynes. He knew he had won and for his final jump made a token effort, jogged across the sand and turned to take the applause of the crowd. The reaction was ecstatic: gold.

In an outpouring of thanks he said: “I’ve got one of the best teams in the world. My coach is incredible. My therapist is incredible.

“I’ve the most amazing parents you could possibly have. I’ve a beautiful girlfriend. I’ve got a good life. I’m not going to lie. I can’t tell you how hard everybody has worked for me. “This has been a long process. To be honest I thought I was going to jump further than that but I don’t care. I’m Olympic champion. Who cares?”

But there was one more gold to celebrate, and the applause reached a crescendo. Farah looked relaxed for much of the race and then in the final lap sprinted ahead of the field. He knew he had won before he crossed the line, and he grabbed a Union flag, found his family, and celebrated.

“I just can’t believe it, the crowd got so much behind me and was getting louder and louder,” he said.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this — it will never get any better than this, this is the best moment of my life.

It doesn’t come round very often and to have it right on the doorstep and the amount of people supporting you and shouting out your name.”

Farah was most touched by his family being on the track. “Seeing them on the track was the best moment of my life. Rihanna’s shoes kept coming off and I told her to come and do a lap of honour with me but she got scared and said I don’t want to do it,” he said.

The sensational result goes beyond even the hopes of the team’s managers and the Olympic organisers.

Lord Coe said it was “the greatest night of British athletics”. Of Farah, he said: “Foot perfect the whole way. Never got sucked into mid-race surges. Covered everything and when it mattered was just too good. The greatest night of British athletics.”

Lord Coe, also praised Ennis as “absolutely sensational” adding: “Faultless throughout. Jess has nerves of steel and she has delivered a massive British moment which will inspire for generations to come.”

Of Rutherford’s victory, he said: “A wonderful achievement. Greg is always capable on his day of beating the best. I am so delighted he chose London as one of his days.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Team GB’s gluttonous desire for gold shows no sign of being sated.

“Their extraordinary efforts have brought rapture to streets, parks and living rooms in London and all over the country if not the planet.

“It has been a remarkable first week and my hearty congratulations go to every single athlete that has taken part.

“They have entertained billions of people around the world and I for one cannot wait to see what they serve up for week two.”

The athletics was only the night-time treat: during the day there was glory for cycling and rowing.

At Eton Dorney two brilliant performances in the men’s coxless four and the lightweight women’s double sculls made the 2012 Games the best rowing performance ever.

The rowers were cheered to victory by the “wall of noise” from 30,000 supporters, and after their victory in the sculls, Sophie Hosking and her partner Katherine Copeland, were almost too shocked to speak, Copeland mouthing: “We’ve won the Olympics.”

In the velodrome the noise was deafening as the women’s pursuit team of Laura Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell beat the Americans by almost six seconds in the final. For the sixth time in a row they beat their own world record, delighting a crowd including Sir Paul McCartney, who danced a victory jig. Roswell said: “I could tell we’ve won it by the roar of the crowd.”

In tennis Andy Murray and Laura Robson are guaranteed silver medals after winning a place in the mixed doubles final, beating Christopher Kas and Sabine Lisicki of Germany. Robson, 18, was just two the last time Britain won a tennis medal, when Tim Henman took silver in Atlanta in 1996.

Murray is also guaranteed silver on Sunday in the men’s final when he plays Roger Federer, and said: “There’s obviously huge motivation to try to win a gold medal. So I’ll give it everything I can to try to do that.”

The scale of public support for the British team was described as the factor that had helped drive athletes to victory on “Super Saturday”, named because it is the day with the biggest single number of medals to be won.

The record set in 1908, when London held the Games for the first time, was eight golds in one day.

Another Olympic record was set on Saturday night as Michael Phelps, the American swimmer, retired with a gold in his last competition, the 4x100 metres relay, taking his medals total to 22, 18 of them gold.

On Sunday there is the prospect of a series of British medals. The serious contenders are Christine Ohuruogu in the women’s 400m; Ben Ainslie in the men’s Finn class sailing; Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the men’s Star class sailing; gymnast Louis Smith in the pommel horse final and Ed Clancy, the cyclist, in the omnium.